To examine the influence of gender on the specialty choices of graduates from a Brazilian medical school. Data for graduates of the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of São Paulo (FMRP-USP) who enrolled in the FMRP-USP's residency program were pooled for surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology, anesthesiology, ophthalmology, radiology, and orthopedics and were analyzed by gender in two periods, 1979-1984 (n= 414) and 1989-1994 (n= 407). The data were analyzed statistically by the chi-square test and Fisher's exact probability test. Women predominated in pediatrics and men in surgery and orthopedics in both periods, with no predominance of either gender in the other specialties. Between the two study periods, there were decreases in the choices of both genders for internal medicine and increases in the choices of the men for anesthesiology and of the women for radiology. Significant changes occurred in the pattern of specialty choices between the men and the women and the two study periods. Considering the needs of the Brazilian health care system, the trends in career choices and the influence of gender should be continuously scrutinized.